After doing tons of research on the internet on window and stucco installations over the past couple days, I decided to post here for input since I have concerns about this garage addition on my house and will be starting the stucco this week. I'm a modern/contemporary architecture enthusiast and am really focused on the details here. The contractors I am working with are experienced with traditional jobs and are starting to get annoyed with how particular I am with the project. I am located in the southeastern PA region. All the pics are shown in the photobucket link at the bottom.
The windows are Andersen 400 Awnings and we used the leftover ice shield on the bottom of the rough openings as pictured before installing the windows. There is nothing else around the rough opening and research tells me otherwise. The pics show the steps.
As for the stucco, I have four concerns, starting with the drainage plane. The stucco guy plans on using a weather resistant barrier with two or three layers of either felt or grade d paper. In theory, the outer layer of felt paper is supposed to wrinkle after the scratch coat is applied, causing a "drainage plane" and I wanted to get thoughts on using this method versus an actual rainscreen system.
The rest of my concerns are purely aesthetic, starting with the window head flashing, which I takes away from the contemporary/minimalist look I am trying to accomplish. If head flashing is necessary, is there any way to blend it in with the windows? The stucco guy is using trim coil that matches the windows but told me he wants to install the flashing with a small overhang as seen in the pics of his work on another home, which I'm not a fan of.
Because the garage is 8' block with wood framing above, stucco guy wants to use a weep screed where the wood meets the block. Makes sense since this would allow moisture to drain and would allow for an expansion gap between the wood and block. However, I don't like how this would cause a line in the middle of the wall, once again, taking away from the clean look I am trying to achieve. Would it be possible to install a rainscreen product that would cushion the wood/block expansions such as Waterways or Delta-Dry and relocate the weep screed to near ground level while preventing cracks? Also, the weep screed he wants to use does not have an insect screen on it, which I think would pose problems.
Another product the stucco guy wants to use is EZ-Bead, which replaces the backing rod that goes around the window. While the EZ bead website claims to provide a cleaner solution (no visible signs of the EZ-Bead are visible in the website pics after the final stucco coat) you can see the ez bead in the last job the stucco guy did in the pics below. I'm not too crazy about how he did the windows.
Stucco would be a smooth coat to match the rest of the house, but the contractor and the stucco guy are afraid the smooth coat over the wood framing would show some imperfections. I feel that a good stucco guy sould be able to attain a smooth finish with very minimal noticeable imperfections. I wouldn't blame you if you've had enough already, so I appreciate your inputs since that requires time and effort.
http://s1104.photobucket.com/user/KoreyConstable/library/Windows%20and%20Stucco |